The ACT Labor Government will this week introduce the Marriage Equality Bill 2013 into the Legislative Assembly to allow same-sex couples to marry, Attorney-General, Simon Corbell, announced today.

“The Marriage Equality Bill will establish a Territory based scheme which allows same sex couples to solemnise a same sex marriage before an authorised celebrant,” Mr Corbell said.

“It will send a clear and unambiguous message that all people are entitled to respect, dignity, the right to participate in society, and to receive the full protection of the law, regardless of sexual orientation.”

. During the six years of the Federal Labor/Greens government the local mob did not attempt to bring in gay marriage once, yet within days of the Liberals taking office we now have this gay marriage proposal.

Um, yes they did, right after K.Rudd was first elected if I’m remembering correctly. The Federal government intervened and overturned the bill though, obviously..

My mistake! You’re right. Rudd overturned one as well.

I thought so, but I wasn’t going to argue. Thanks for double-checking, it’s nice to be vindicated 😀

It sounds like the local Labor/Greens government is not so much interested in equality but bringing on a scrap with the Tories on the Hill. During the six years of the Federal Labor/Greens government the local mob did not attempt to bring in gay marriage once, yet within days of the Liberals taking office we now have this gay marriage proposal. A lot of people should be feeling very cynical at the moment.

DrKoresh referred to the previous attempt while Labor was in power federally. Of course, since then, two things have changed. One is that for ACT legislation to be disallowed, it must now be struck down in both the House of Reps and the Senate; the Federal Government can no longer do so on its own.

The second is that there have been legal opinions in relation to what the marriage power in section 51 of the Constitution means. For those who don’t know, s51 lists those powers that rest with the Federal Parliament rather than the States, and s51(xxi) says “Marriage”. Those opinions are likely to be relied upon in other jurisdictions too. I haven’t read them, but essentially the argument goes:

Proponent of marriage equality: “We want federal recognition of same-sex relationships as marriage.”
Opponent: “You can’t change the definition of marriage.”
Prop: “So the reference to marriage in the constitution is to opposite-sex marriage?”
Opp: “Yes.”
Prop: “So the constitution says nothing about same-sex marriage?”
Opp: “Definitely not!”
Prop: “So the power to legislate in respect of same-sex marriage has not been given to the Commonwealth in the constitution?”
Opp: “That’s right, it hasn’t.”
Prop: “So, therefore, it must be a power that remains with the States. I’m off to them!”
Opp: “That’s not what I meant…”

Of course, that turns the marriage equality proponent into someone who is now campaigning for same-sex marriage under a different system, and not for marriage equality at all. Winning the argument in the High Court could result in two systems permanently; surely not the result being sought.

. During the six years of the Federal Labor/Greens government the local mob did not attempt to bring in gay marriage once, yet within days of the Liberals taking office we now have this gay marriage proposal.

Um, yes they did, right after K.Rudd was first elected if I’m remembering correctly. The Federal government intervened and overturned the bill though, obviously..

. During the six years of the Federal Labor/Greens government the local mob did not attempt to bring in gay marriage once, yet within days of the Liberals taking office we now have this gay marriage proposal.

Um, yes they did, right after K.Rudd was first elected if I’m remembering correctly. The Federal government intervened and overturned the bill though, obviously..

No, they didn’t. That was the Howard government.

I agree with roundhead89 on this. It’s less a case of the ACT government caring about what its constituency thinks, and more a case of them attempting to cause controversy for the newly elected Liberal federal government. And it’s ridiculously transparent.

. During the six years of the Federal Labor/Greens government the local mob did not attempt to bring in gay marriage once, yet within days of the Liberals taking office we now have this gay marriage proposal.

Um, yes they did, right after K.Rudd was first elected if I’m remembering correctly. The Federal government intervened and overturned the bill though, obviously..

The circus continues.
FYI, the relevant provision in the Self Government Act says:

28 Inconsistency with other laws

(1) A provision of an enactment has no effect to the extent that it is inconsistent with a law defined by subsection (2), but such a provision shall be taken to be consistent with such a law to the extent that it is capable of operating concurrently with that law.

It sounds like the local Labor/Greens government is not so much interested in equality but bringing on a scrap with the Tories on the Hill. During the six years of the Federal Labor/Greens government the local mob did not attempt to bring in gay marriage once, yet within days of the Liberals taking office we now have this gay marriage proposal. A lot of people should be feeling very cynical at the moment.

Well, Canberrans all over town will be rejoicing now that their lives have been symbolically improved as Barr and the bureaucrats who support him continue to draw their comfortable salaries. How much did this gesture cost in time and effort, courtesy of ratepayers?

These people need to get their noses out of people’s bedrooms and back into those oh-so-suburban and beige issues that matter to ordinary punters.